The X12

It has been 7 years since I built my last home PC ... and five years since my last blog post. Both are overdue for an update. For the new PC I decided to use the TechReport web site's System Guide as a blueprint. The final product merged the primary infrastructure of The Sweet Spot with the storage components of The Editor's Choice:

Processor - Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz - I considered getting an i7, but could not justify the return on investment.

Motherboard - Asus P8Z68-V LE - Motherboards are so much more user friendly than they used to be.

Memory - Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 - Still two slots remaining for more RAM.

Graphics - EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti Superclocked - This should do everything I want for a couple years.

Audio - Asus Xonar DG - I have never invested in a sound card before. Experts say that a dedicated card is better than on-board audio. For this low price, it's worth a try.

Case - NZXT H2 - Like motherboards, cases have come a long way the past few years.

Power - Seasonic M12II 520W - Ah ... hummm ... well, it's power. It works.

Operating System Storage - Samsung 830 Series 128GB SSD - I love the solid state drive. Power-on to full boot in 20 seconds.

Data Storage - Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.D 750GB - This should be enough room for a while.

Optical - LG WH12LS39 Blu-ray burner - This is an OEM drive, and it looks like buying software to play Blu Ray movies is $50 minimum. Plus, the software is buggy due to all the different encryption schemes. It should not be this difficult to play Blu Ray discs on a computer.

Operating System - Windows 7 64-bit - I know Windows 8 will be released in a few months, but it is really nice to install a mature operating system that has quality drivers for all components.

The build took four evenings to complete. (Free time is not exactly free.)

1) Assemble the Hardware and get the build to POST.

2) Install Windows 7 and updates.

3) Install programs and updates.

4) Copy data from the old machine to the new machine.

It is nice to turn off the computer when finished, and not leave it on for hours so that I don't have to wait 5 minutes for it to boot if I happen to need it later.